


Once Upon A Miserable Life

by hamburgs11



Category: Cinderella - All Media Types
Genre: Ambition, Cinderella Spin Off, Drama, Dreams, Evil Mother, Multi, Original Character(s), Romance, Step-siblings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-02
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,741
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23954230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hamburgs11/pseuds/hamburgs11
Summary: Cosmo Danes has been working under his mom for as long as he can remember. Now, even when he wants to move on to his dreams, he can't because his mother won't let him. And she has ways of making sure he doesn't get what he wants with the help of her step sons and some unknown friends. With a competition coming up, it could be the perfect time for Cosmo to finally get out, but his mother is one step ahead of him.





	Once Upon A Miserable Life

The empty and suffering restaurant that had stood for many years beyond Cosmo’s, who we will get to in a second, life is now suddenly going dark all while Cosmo is cleaning inside of it. 

He doesn’t pay too much attention to the sudden darkness, being used to his step siblings or mother turning the lights out on him while he was doing work they set him out to do. He just let out a sigh, looking out at the still dirty tables as he set in his xray vision to see everything. Not actual xray vision, this isn’t a superpower movie, but pretty much just his vision of the restaurant in his mind when it had lights on. Because he’s had to stare at this place for more than he’s wanted to while being the built in janitor for his mother who now owned it. 

He missed the days when his step father, Derek, who actually had owned the place was in the picture. The place had been so vibrant then, having his energetic glee to fill the space with his welcoming smile and greetings.

He didn’t love how his mother had bossed Derek around, but it helped to have someone who suddenly understood him and he wondered why Derek stayed with his mom when she was a raging alcoholic who hurt him both physically and mentally.

He wanted to help, but whenever he brought it up all Derek said was that he was handling it. And now there was nothing left for him to handle when he was in the ground. It had been two years and Cosmo was handling it about as well as his stepfather had been handling his mother.

But Cosmo couldn’t leave when his mother had this power over him. She could set or break his aspirations and while he knew his dreams of becoming a renowned baker were slim, he still couldn’t help but hope.

Even when all of his hope should have been washed away.

His mother, Clarissa, was so manipulating and conniving that she had connections anywhere and everywhere. There was nothing she couldn’t do and Cosmo didn’t know quite how but he knew that it didn’t involve anything good.

They made a deal that if he stayed to help with the restaurant until she was done with him then she would help him with his career, and while he didn’t want her help, the other option was her having the power to cause him to never get a career ever again. 

So he stayed, and while he regrets every second of it… It’s the only option he’s got.

He grabbed a rag, wiping the grum and grit off the table and onto the floor. He would sweep it up later but he just needed to get all the sticky stuff off the wood. Now he didn’t know how the tables became so dirty when barely anyone came to this hell hole, the only thing good being the food because of the good hearted chefs, but he had a guess it had to do with his step siblings.

His step siblings… now they were something.

Cosmo caught them peeking down from the staircase as they high fived each other. Well Ridge, the worst of the two, high fived Sebastien, the somehow better of the two, in the arm and Sebastien almost fell down the stairs.

But they went back upstairs only after Ridge gave Cosmo a smirk and Sebastien well… he waved with a bright smile. Which made Ridge pretty much try to push him down the stairs.

It was strange how Sebastien seemed to be so much more different but still went with his brother's antics and evilness. Maybe it was to fit in… maybe it was because he didn’t know how to act specifically but all Cosmo remembers through how long he’s known them is Sebastien following his brother’s orders.

Never seeming to have his own thoughts...

Cosmo sighed again, finally getting some of the sticky stuff off as he started in another section of stickiness.  _ Only a thousand more tables to go… _

The step siblings, or should he say step dream crushers, were similar looking and both had blonde hair but Sebastiens was a tad darker and Ridge had recently gotten highlights.

They were both light skinned and had bluish green eyes but somehow their faces were just different to Cosmo. Maybe it was how Sebastien seemed to have more of a light and Ridge seemed to be the devil or how Sebastien’s eyes were a little higher on his face making his forehead a tad smaller than Ridge’s.

_ They're just different _ .

Especially in personality. Ridge was all out for himself and ready to run anyone under the bus as long as he was the one that got on top. Sebastien was more kind, wanting everyone to be happy but also a little dense and in turn to wanting his brother to be happy, he ended up looking like more of an ass.

After a few more hours of scraping and scrubbing and beating his nails down to the bud, he was finally done with the tables. And then he just had to look down at the still grimy ground that even had some beer cans on it.

_ We don’t even sell beer… _ He suddenly let out a groan, going to fetch the broom.

He should be used to this by now, he couldn’t even ask for help or his mother would yell at him about how he needs to be independent if he wants to own his own business.  _ Then just throw me out on the street, cause that would be better than this. _

He took a seat in one of the newly cleaned chairs, taking a break as he brought a book out from his apron pocket. He held it tightly in his hands, only a few moments later opening it to zoom past some of his recipes.

He brought this everywhere with him, holding special memories with each and every recipe.

Yes he had a recipe book, recipes that he made up entirely by himself and whenever he could sneak into the kitchen to experiment. There were even descriptions of each one, thoughtfully designed to make the reader drool at the mouth with emotion and hunger.

But he was hopeless about the fact that anyone would ever be able to read them when he couldn’t even get out of this godforsaken restaurant.  _ And if mother ever found out I was building up a recipe book behind her back… _

He set it back in his pocket, getting ready to go back to his cleaning.

“Hey Cos.” A familiar voice set out in search of him once he had gotten the broom back in his hand. “You want to use the kitchen to “not so suspiciously” bake?” Vector, one of the chefs, asked as he cleaned off his wet hands with a napkin that was set on one of the tables.

“It sounds suspicious when you do that you know.” Cosmo said, smiling as he started to brush some of the contents from under the table near him. Vector shrugged, not really caring because he had always said how he could take Cosmo’s mother.

Cosmo would pay to see that fight, but on the very off chance his mother didn’t play fairly he couldn’t ever want it to actually happen.

“Narissa isn’t baking tonight since it’s the weekend and she wants to relax. So this is a chance to have the kitchen all to yourself.” He was making some good points, Cosmo stopping his sweeping for a second. “I’ll even ring a bell to your mother's door to warn me if she gets up.” He finished off, obviously knowing Cosmo remembered that one time he called his mother a cow.

Cosmo let out a tiny laugh, nodding. “Yeah yeah. I’ll finish this up and then go in.”

“Goodnight kid. And remember to always believe in yourself.” Vector pat Cosmo on the back, walking towards the stairs. “Because your baking is goddamn good and you know I don’t lie. Not even to you, my favorite of this place. Don’t tell Narissa.” He started walking up the stairs, sending a wave towards Cosmo.

Cosmo smiles, gesturing his hand to his mouth in a zipping motion to show he wouldn’t say a word.  _ He just wants those special lemon bars again… _

Once Vector was gone, Cosmo let his smile stay for a few more seconds before it faded back down.

Only a few hours later, Cosmo was walking into the surprisingly clean kitchen.  _ Maybe not such a surprise. Vector doesn’t like me having to clean up his messes and Narissa would probably kill him if he left one speck. _

He smiled again knowing he wouldn’t have one more thing to clean because he was starting to become nauseous to the smell of cleaning supplies, and somehow even to the broom.

Here is where he felt at home, in the kitchen where there was an oven and everything he needed. 

Cosmo was a kind human being who wanted nothing other than everyone to be happy and in a way he could make a certain number of people happy, such as Vector, with his baking.

He was sad he could never really give it to anyone else for now without his mother finding out he was building his business up and in turn going back on their deal, but he made the most of it by imagining Vector and Narissa’s happy faces. 

They kept him going.

He started preparing his workspace by getting the necessities, such as flour, out and placing them on a counter next to him. He didn’t have any idea what he was going to be baking today, but that was the beautiful thing.

It could be anything and it would be all his.

Even if it tasted bad the first time, which was part of the learning, he could start over and keep adding or taking out items. Eventually it would come out as a masterpiece like every one of his other recipes.

It was the one thing he had hope in, his baking.

He only got into bed around 5 am, having been up for more than the whole night baking. He couldn’t help it, when this was the only thing that made him happy and he would risk his sleep just to be able to go after it.

Even if right now it couldn’t go anywhere.

Wrapping himself in his fluffy blankets like a burrito, he slowly felt his eyes begin to droop. He hadn’t felt it before but now the tiredness was getting to him and he honestly wished for a day he wouldn’t have to hide his gift.

Only a few more seconds before he passed into the darkness…

“COSMO TIME TO GET READY FOR WORK!” He flipped up from his bed, the sound of his screeching mother keeping him from slumber. “YOU HAVE AN ORDER TO DELIVER!”

He groaned, pushing himself back onto his bed for a few seconds before he rolled himself off of it.  _ A delivery? At 5 in the morning? _ It made sense that they would have to stay open for 24 hours being that the restaurant was slowly dying, but he just wished the other two would pick up some slack.

He got himself up, his whole body trembling with his tired brain. He yearned for the day that he would be able to get a good night's sleep and not have to worry about cleaning or being yelled at by his mother.

Trudging out the door and through the hall, he didn’t even bother changing as he already expected whatever he changed into would just be judged by his mother anyways. 

_ “Could you not find anything better?” _

_ “Why do you look like a homeless person?” _

_ “You need to start representing this place and not with a trash bag.” _

On his way out, he couldn’t help but let his eyes wander to his step brothers room. They were sleeping as soundly as ever, like every morning where they didn’t have to get up this early. And Cosmo’s mom always said it was because they were both training to become the managers but Cosmo barely saw them working anyways.

_ What was the use of managers when barely anyone was coming in? _

But at the same time he couldn’t help but smile and snicker when he saw Sebastien curled up on the floor, half his body still on the bed from having fallen over it. He was drooling into the wood, no sign of being awake even with the occasional twitch.

Cosmo kept on walking, wondering how someone could be the cause of most of the pain in his life, and yet he couldn’t blame him. He knew that Sebastien went along with his brother and only his brother lately, but it made him feel slightly worse to know that maybe he had no choice. 

_ Ridge does seem like the manipulative type.  _

And even then… Sebastien never truly did anything bad to Cosmo. All the pain he caused was because of his association with Ridge. 

So maybe that’s why it made so much sense that Cosmo didn’t hate Sebastien even though he could blame all his problems on him and be done with it. He would possibly be too dense to even notice. But Cosmo couldn’t do that.

He couldn’t let someone take the blame for his troubles. The fact that he couldn’t make his own risks...But that conclusion also made him troubled because then he would just end up blaming his problems on himself.

_ Maybe I should just blame the- _

“Hey Cosmo…” Cosmo suddenly turned at the familiar voice that was masked with a different tone. A tone that showed the true meaning of being tired, the grogginess escaping through the person's throat.  _ Sebastien. _

The person of his thoughts in the moment was now standing in front of him, slightly leaning sideways from obviously just getting out of bed. There were bags still under his eyes, him wiping at them like they could be removed with a single swipe.

He gave out a big yawn, making Cosmo all the more confused as he took his time to tell him what he was going to tell him.

“You dropped this.” He shook his hand slightly, patting the book in his hands.

“Oh. Thank-”

“A recipe book? Hey cool do you have any tasty recipes you can make me?” Suddenly all his sleepiness evaporated into the air and what was left was an excited boy who was now going through Cosmo’s recipe book that he was not supposed to be going through.

“No. Can you just-?” He tried to grab at the notebook that read ‘Recipes’ in big letters that indented the leather but Sebastien was already reading, and slightly out of his reach. Cosmo didn’t want to make a big scene so he just stood there and anxiously waited.

The book was a bit battered, having been with Cosmo ever since he could get his hands on the money to buy a recipe book. And it had to be small enough he could hide it anywhere if his mother tried to do anything.

“Wow. These are-” He stopped mid-sentence, his mouth a bit wider than before as he stared at one of the recipes in hand. Cosmo’s heart jumped in his chest, all his anxiety rising into intense fear.

_ I knew it. I knew I couldn’t go through with this for long. Why did I do this? He’s going to tell mother, end up being manipulative like Ridge and get the manager job because of this. Once he tells her all my hopes and dreams are crushed.  _ He was now closing his eyes, wanting to tug at his hair until there was barely any left.

_ He’s going to tell mother. She’s going to figure out that I’ve been sneaking into the kitchen at night to make recipes and all because of the damn dates I put in the corner of each page to remember. She’s going to ruin my life and he has all the proof right there. _

Sure he could have just tugged it out of Sebastiens hands, but then he wouldn’t even know where to hide the book and his mother would believe her step sons over her only biological son. It was just how it was.

_ Dumbass. Dumbass. _


End file.
